Delaware DMV helps veterans obtain commercial driver's licenses

Saturday

Apr 13, 2013 at 1:36 PMApr 13, 2013 at 1:43 PM

The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles recently established the "Hero's on the Highways" program to allow active duty military members and recently discharged Veterans to waive the pre-trip skills and road test requirements for the issuance of a Class A or B Commercial Driver License (CDL).

Staff Reports

The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles recently established the "Hero's on the Highways" program to allow active duty military members and recently discharged Veterans to waive the pre-trip skills and road test requirements for the issuance of a Class A or B Commercial Driver License (CDL).

The new program will aid in securing local employment for military members with truck or heavy equipment driving experience.

"The Hero's on the Highways format has been a very successful program in other states," DMV Director Jennifer Cohan said. "By implementing it in Delaware we expect to be able to encourage local employment possibilities for the many military veterans across the state that have experience operating heavy equipment and trucks."

The "Hero's" program has been established under the guidelines of the federal CDL Military Waiver Program. To be eligible, the applicants must be currently serving in the Armed Forces or have recently been discharged and applied for the waiver at DMV within 90 days of their discharge date.

Interested applicants must have at least 2-years experience operating a military commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and certify that they were regularly employed in a military position requiring the operation a military motor vehicle, representative of a CMV, for the past 90 days.

Prior to discharge, the applicant will need to complete the driver portion of the Military Skills Test Waiver application, available online at www.dmv.de.gov. Their commanding officer must sign the form certifying which vehicle type the applicant is eligible to operate.

After DMV receives the application, the applicant must satisfy the commercial knowledge testing requirements of the class of CDL to be issued. The waiver program also authorizes endorsements such as tanker, doubles/triples and hazmat, however; skills testing is not waived for School Bus or Passenger endorsements.

The "Heroes on the Highways" program, will enable Delaware to assist military personnel in establishing a civilian commercial driver license using their existing military commercial motor vehicle driving experience. This will afford existing or recently discharged military members with the opportunity to possibly gain earlier employment in the trucking industry.